Nina

Nina took over the basement space in Marylebone that used to house Pachamama’s Peruvian restaurant, reopening in March 2025 under the same group with an entirely different brief: modern Italian, done with more theatre than restraint. Head down the stairs on Thayer Street and the room opens into a candlelit, brick lined space that leans hard into atmosphere, with leopard print touches and low lighting doing a lot of the storytelling before a single plate arrives.

Executive chef Tzoulio Loulai’s menu centres on pasta, and dishes like beef shin tagliatelle and bottarga linguine turn up in most write ups as the reason to come back, alongside a fairly serious list of Italian wines. It reads as Mediterranean by way of Italy rather than a strict regional menu, and it’s built for sharing across a group rather than a solo dinner, with the creative director’s touch obvious in how deliberately the whole room is styled.

Reviews have been genuinely split. Several outlets call it one of the more fun, glamorous rooms to open in London recently, the kind of place that works for a celebration or an anniversary. Others are more sceptical, suggesting the emphasis on candlelight and photogenic plating outweighs the cooking underneath it, and that Nina is more about the scene than the food, which is a fair criticism to weigh against the prices.

Reservations became difficult to get within a month of opening, and demand hasn’t eased much since, with prime weekend slots booked up well in advance. Worth noting too, despite what some listings suggest, this is a Marylebone restaurant, not one near London Fields; anyone searching for it around Broadway Market is looking in the wrong postcode entirely.

Go in expecting a loud, dressed up night out built around pasta rather than a considered tasting menu, and Nina delivers roughly what it promises.